Local News

WATSONVILLE—If all goes according to plan, Watsonville’s Ramsay Park over the next five years will become the “community space that it really needs to be,” says city of Watsonville Administrative Services Director Cindy Czerwin. The City plans to pump roughly $22 million in local, state...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a temporary ordinance prohibiting new cannabis cultivation licenses within 500 feet of residential structures. The moratorium stemmed from the supervisor’s Aug. 24 meeting, during which they discussed potential conflicts between residential parcels and...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville City Councilman Aurelio Gonzalez on Tuesday announced his resignation from his District 2 seat because of a family emergency. In a letter emailed to reporters, Gonzalez said that because of “family circumstances” he would no longer “be able to perform my duties in representing...

SANTA CRUZ—Nearly seven years ago, a group of eight gang members gathered in a Main Street restaurant, where they socialized and drank before going outside to gun down a rival gang member at a nearby hotel in a planned attack. The victim, Ramon Rendon, died...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville’s Mansion House was built in an era when horse-drawn carriages and motor coaches shared unpaved roads, and served as a luxurious stopover for visitors to the agricultural epicenter that was Watsonville.  The Mansion House, a centerpiece of Watsonville’s historic downtown, will turn 150 this...

WATSONVILLE—It has been two decades since terrorists crashed two hijacked passenger planes into the Twin Towers in Manhattan, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and a fourth into a field in Pennsylvania. The coordinated attacks by Al-Qaeda terrorists left 2,977 people dead, and sparked...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The number of people contracting Covid-19 in Santa Cruz County is starting to slow, but the recently renewed mandate to wear masks indoors in public spaces is not going away anytime soon. Santa Cruz County health officials at a Thursday press conference told...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees will consider restoring its School Resource Officer (SRO) program, just over one year after they canceled it.  The trustees voted unanimously on Wednesday to discuss the issue during an emergency meeting on Sept. 15. The meeting will...

MONTEREY BAY—After 16 years of drawing birders from around the globe, with its wide array of guided field trips with expert birders, lectures, workshops and samples of local foods and drinks, the Monterey Bay Birding Festival has reached its end. “Due to the Covid-19 pandemic,...

PAJARO—A longtime Royal Oaks resident, Graniterock employee and community organizer on Wednesday announced his run for the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. Steve Snodgrass, 66, has served as Graniterock’s Chief Financial Officer for 35 years, and plans to retire early next year. That experience, he...